The subject matter herein relates generally to cable connector assemblies for an electronic system.
The ongoing trend toward smaller, lighter, and higher performance electrical components and higher density electrical circuits has led to the development of printed circuit boards having socket connectors that receive electronic packages. Socket connectors allow for a separable connection of an electronic package, such as an integrated circuit or a computer processor, to the circuit board rather than connection by contacts or pins soldered in plated holes going through the circuit board. Socket connectors may allow for an increased component density on a circuit board, thereby saving space on the circuit board.
A socket connector may include a substrate with terminals on one side of the substrate and an array of conductive solder elements, such as a ball grid array (BGA) or a land grid array (LGA), on the opposite side. The terminals engage contacts on the electronic package and the solder elements are affixed to conductive pads on a host circuit board, such as a mother board, to electrically join the electronic package with the host circuit board. Conventional architecture provides the socket connector between the electronic package and the host circuit board. The routing of the circuits between the electronic package and the host circuit board all occur through the socket connector. The footprint of the socket connector with the host circuit board and the electronic package needs to be large enough to accommodate all of the electrical paths, such as the high-speed paths, the low speed paths, the ground paths and the power paths. Additionally, the electrical performance of the electronic system is reduced by having multiple electrical interfaces between the electronic package and the host circuit board. Furthermore, signaling is routed along the host circuit board to another electrical component mounted remotely on the host circuit board through the traces of the host circuit board, which may be relatively long, leading to signal degradation along the long paths between the electronic package and the other electrical component. Conventional systems are struggling with meeting signal and power output from the electronic package because there is a need for smaller size and higher number of conductors while maintaining good electrical performance and conventional electronic packages have a limited amount of surface area for the conductors.
A need remains for a high-speed electrical system having improved electrical performance.